Search - Little Shots of Happiness on DVD

Too Real For Comfort

Daniel Somerville | USA | 05/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This movie is about an ordinary woman named Frances who lives a normal life. She has a job as a telemarketer, a husband, and a suburban house. Then something terrifying happens: she quits.

I don't mean she quits her job, actually she keeps that. Frances quits normal life. She leaves her husband, her home, and she leaves behind any trace of continuity, security, or routine. Every day after work she changes clothes in the office bathroom and heads to a bar, where, timidly, clumsily, but very honestly, she tries to get men to take her home. She meets egos, jealousies, neuroses and sometimes a surprising instance of tenderness and character. She wakes up next to strangers and leaves silently, or wakes up in parks confused and bloody.

Throughout the movie we understand that Frances is real, that she has integrity and curiosity. She is doing this because she is trying to find herself. (incidentally, this is the only movie I've ever known to have an intelligent tagline) Real life is clumsy like this, crazy like this, heartbreaking like this. It sort of reminded me of Shirley Jackson's short stories, in the way it shows how hard it is for us as humans to actually communicate to each other. It shows how every ordinary human experience gets filtered through fear, gender, age, distraction, or the awkwardness of different personalities. How rare it is to actually connect, and how shocking! This is a hard movie for me to watch, but it has a good heart."